The most important campaign in Montana this year is not the Governor’s race. Rather, it’s a tie between the Governor’s race and the Supreme Court race. The Montana Supreme Court leans liberal but that could change if retiring Judge Pat Cotter, a reliable progressive, is…
The undersigned urge that District Judge Dirk Sandefur be elected as a Justice to Montana’s Supreme Court. He has the temperament and the broadest professional background of any candidate for the Supreme Court—including the skills that are indispensable for analyzing and deciding all civil and…
Right-wing Supreme Court candidate Kristen Juras touts her experience in business. Yet the single most important duty of a company’s legal counsel is to make sure the company complies with the law. She was general counsel for Crop Growers Insurance which at the time was headquartered in…
by Evan Barrett, who lives on the Butte Hill, recently retired after 47 years at the top level of Montana government, politics, economic development and education. My columns try to call for a common sense perspective in our government and politics. While I approach things…
The Bozeman Chronicle reported this morning on the sentencing of Evan Koch, a former AFP staffer, who was originally charged with raping a woman at a Bozeman frat house (a felony). Koch pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, will get no jail time, and a $375 dollar…
by Mark Snider Democratic Candidate for House District 87 On April 20th the University of Montana hosted a symposium entitled, “Missoula Access to Justice Forum”. The listening panel included, Hon. Mike McGrath, Chief Justice, Montana Supreme Court, Hon. Leslie Halligan, district Court Judge, 4th Judicial district (Missoula…
Some Montana voters and politicos pretty much ignore the Montana Supreme Court non-partisan judicial races until the very last minute, when they ask their favorite lawyer how to vote. 2016 Montana Supreme Court Candidate Kristin Juras may be betting on this trend. Anyone who is…
by Sen. Mary Sheehy Moe (D-Great Falls) Sen. Moe can be reached at moe.mt.senate@gmail.com Follow her on Twitter @MaryMoeMT Ah, the irony. Before the self-proclaimed “originalist,” Justice Antonin Scalia, had even been entombed, Senate Republicans were changing the Constitution’s clear directive to the President to appoint Scalia’s replacement –…
by Jim Nelson, Montana Supreme Court Justice (Ret.) Helena, Montana On the sixth anniversary of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, one of the most far reaching and pernicious decisions ever handed down by the Supreme Court of the United States, it is important to review the…
A Lewis & Clark County deputy sheriff who got all liquored up at a neigbor’s bachelor party and, according to court documents, threatened a half-Asian guy with a gun, pointing it directly at his chest several times after calling him “an ISIS”, was released on his own recognizance by…
List includes a handful of wealthy out-of-state landowners with interest in Supreme Court litigation If you smell a stench, it’s probably from the breaking news today that the names of the donors to the Montana Growth Network–a dark money group that spent $878,000 to elect…
By Jonathan Hutson Joni Mitchell sang, “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.” When it comes to free speech, I know what I’ve got, but I am concerned that I may soon be silenced. And if…
by Sen. Mary Sheehy Moe (D-Great Falls) Sen. Moe can be reached at moe.mt.senate@gmail.com Follow her on Twitter @MaryMoeMT “An injustice to him. An outrage to all.” So reads the mission statement of Montanans for Justice, one of many groups that have been advocating for the exoneration of Barry…
It turns out that the angry Helena Justice of the Peace who claimed the main reason for the Civil War was not slavery but banks (and that’s not all) has a history of making off color and racially charged remarks.
A look at the public Facebook page of Justice of the Peace Mike Swingley, who “Lashed Out at City Commissioners Over the Confederate Monument Debate” reveal the following:
